Antonio Scott Nichols (b.1997, lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) is an African American and Afro-Futurist painter who explores Black bodies as vessels of “time.” Understanding that “time” operates as the sequence of all existence and events in past, present, and future simultaneously, Nichols uses it as a layering tool that informs the framework of each painting (in terms of subjects, color, the photo, culture, fashion, and setting). Nichols explores the past as it latently informs the present and blatantly informs the physicality of the subjects

depicted in the paintings. Currently, he is focusing on the 1920s because it was an important past era for Black art and culture. He utilizes the present by embracing the now in each painting, using it as the platform of the project by including contemporary elements that clash with the 1920s themes. Simultaneously, Nichols uses visionary fiction to explore the future in asking these questions: What do my subjects have to offer? What could they obtain? And what could they represent? He depicts imagery of the projected future as propaganda for Black people.

Nichols sources W.E.B DuBouis’s “Criteria of Negro Art” as a foundational goal for each painting: “Black art will always have to be propaganda for the Black agenda.” He is also a self-proclaimed disciple of Octavia Butler and is heavily influenced by her literature.

Nichols received his B.A in Studio Art  from Bard College.